Before her tragically premature early death from cancer at age 48, Michele Serros was one of the rising stars of the increasingly popular and influential publishing niche of Hispanic-American literature. She was a leading member of what is sometimes to referred to as Generation Mex. Part of the mythic image which has grown around her fierce determination to make it in the brutal world of book publishing is the unlikely circumstance of actually receiving a response from legendary YA writer Judy Blume to whom she turned in desperation to deal with the emotional duress following the break-up of her parents’ marriage. Blume’s suggestion that she turn to daily journaling became not just a way of dealing with life, but a profound stylistic influence as well. Much of published fiction has the informal immediacy of uncensored journal-keeping and some of her stories are even presented in the form of diary.
The mythos of Serros extends to the aggravated history of trying to get her book, Chicana Falsa: And Other Stories of Death, Identity, and Oxnard, into stores. Publisher bankruptcies, the failure to secure to a an ISBN number, and paltry bookstore orders all contributed to the volume failing to become the breakthrough she dreamed might happen. Three years later a spoken word album featuring selections from the book finally did the trick and a newly published version of the book started selling well. This would be followed by a similar collection, How to be a Chicana Role Model, in 2000. At the urging of publishers of the enormously successful Gossip Girl series to write a version suitable for a Latina readership. Serros published her first novel in 2005, Honey Blonde Chica.
Along the way, she managed to marry (and divorce) a rock star, work as a commentator for National Public Radio, contribute scripts for George Lopez’s sitcom and inspire countless young writers in America’s Hispanic communities before her untimely death.
